Learn about the birds and bees at Merriments Gardens, East Sussex

Should you feed the birds in summer, and how do you encourage butterflies into the garden? These are all questions which can be answered by new manager Dan Mead who joined Merriments Gardens in Hurst Green this week as their new wild bird centre manager.

Dan was part of the education and conservation team at Sissinghurst Castle Gardens before joining Merriments. Dan is also joined by bird expert Phil Mason who will be working at Merriments Bird Centre on Fridays and Saturdays.

Dan is planning to introduce an education programme including a new area designed to grow the wildlife experience at Merriments which will link the wild bird shop to the plant nursery and wildlife activity in the foour acre gardens.

Dan also wants to highlight how important gardens are to our wildlife, especially when such a high percentage of all green space in the UK is made up of gardens. Any help we give to wildlife through feeding and putting up nest boxes will help to halt the decline of our country’s wildlife.

Merriments Gardens including the wild bird centre, shop, nursery and restaurant are open daily Monday to Saturday between 9 and 5pm and on Sundays between 10.30 and 5pm.

Entrance into the gardens is free to Garden Club members or £4.50 for adults and £2 for children over five.

Merriments is situated on the A229 and is signposted off the A21 at Hurst Green.

For more information about Merriments Gardens visit www.merriments.co.uk or call 01580 860666